BBVA

A Collection of NFTs For Placing Value on Urban Green Spaces.

Challenge.

Cities are becoming increasingly bigger and more populated, and their denizens are under siege by the climate crisis. According to the World Bank, by 2025 seven out of every ten people will live in big cities. This will increase the use of urban land, thus putting pressure on the soil and natural resources.

Given that cities are responsible for two thirds of global energy consumption and upwards of 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, it is essential to take measures to tackle the climate emergency. (Washington: World Bank, 2022)

This is why, in order to tackle these challenges, we aim to promote greener and more resilient and inclusive cities.

Solution.

We have created a collection of NFTs using geospatial data from urban green spaces, which are characterised by being quiet, green and accessible, to facilitate the inhabitants of big cities to find these spaces exclusively – since we propose a type of use where people can have the NFTs on demand for a certain amount of time.

NFTs are unchanging digital assets that allow data to be preserved and value placed on their content.

The project was exhibited at the Meta World Congress and the South Summit held in 2023 in Madrid to highlight all the benefits urban oases can have for urban denizens.

Context

Digital assets are ever more important for the economy. BBVA approaches these emerging technologies with a view to assessing their potential and examining their potential impact on the financial industry.

As one of its initiatives around web3, cryptocurrencies and the metaverse, the bank has developed with our team one that ties NFTs to the promotion of sustainability and caring for the planet.

NFTs have many features, such as immutability, traceability, sole ownership and permanence, that make them very attractive digital assets for many use cases. Their use so far, however, has been put into question – particularly given their speculative nature.

A Collection of NFTs For Placing Value on Urban Green Spaces.

Oasis Urbanos: A Quiet, Natural Space in the City

An urban oasis is a green space within a bit city where people can connect to nature and enjoy peace and quiet. These places are far removed from the madding crowd and the frenetic activity that metropolises are otherwise known for.

The intersection of data about the lower traffic density, the higher air quality, the lower noise pollution and access to green spaces was defined as an urban oasis in a city.

In order to find those places in Madrid which could be urban oases, we analysed public data from the City Council of Madrid.

The Value of Data in Cities

The data in a territory are valuable as long as they can be interpreted, correlated and analysed as this process permits drawing more valuable conclusions for its population.

In our case, all the public data we found were unsorted and could not be interrelated. Thus, sorting them and determining their interrelations so as to make the most of them was a big challenge in this project.

“At BBVA we wanted to explore this technology to better understand how it works since it is destined to transform the way in which we interact with digital assets, in addition to it being possible to be used to place value on urban green spaces, so we are doubly happy with the results”

Guillermo Delgado

BBVA’s Engineering Innovation Manager for Spain

The Impact of Urban Oases on Friendlier, Smarter Cities

Taking care and promoting the existence of natural spaces that are hugely beneficial to the population is possible if the population is made aware of their existence and provided with the means to get to them easily.

Urban oases are a profitable investment because having access to natural areas prevents a series of, among others, cardiovascular, psychological and breathing conditions in people regardless of their age and financial situation.

They also minimise soil erosion, strengthen the roots of plants, prevent greenhouse gas emissions and improve the physical and microbiological properties of the soil.

In addition, they improve the weather because trees give shade and act as windbreaks, and the vegetation increases the relative humidity in the area.

Moreover, trees purify water with their roots and improve acoustical quality: 5-8m tall trees with dense crowns substantially reduce the effect of noise in these areas.

The project was exhibited at the Meta World Congress and the South Summit held in 2023 in Madrid to highlight all the benefits urban oases can have for urban denizens.

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